Tag Archives: women

By: Gloria Marie

When you woke up today, were you excited to start the day? Did you begin the day with a sense of excitement or wonder? Or, did you think, darn, another day? We get trapped in habitual thinking and narrow minded thinking instead of looking at the possibilities. If you began your day with gratitude, it could set the tone for your entire day. Choose gratitude.

Recently, I broke several bones in my foot and it required surgery. I was unable to put any weight on my foot for about six weeks. In a few seconds, my life dramatically changed. Before this, I went to the gym daily and did the minimal workout. Now that working out is not an option, I can hardly wait to go back to the gym and do a kick butt workout.

You may have a job you dislike or dread going to. What if you were unemployed and did not know how to pay the bills this month? If you dislike your job, take some action steps to change careers or change your position, but, in the meantime, be grateful that you have a job, there are many people today that do not have that luxury.

You may not like where you live. What if you were homeless? Again, be grateful you have a place to call home and take action steps to make changes.

This week, try this experiment. When you begin to feel depressed about something, imagine if it was taken away from you. How would you feel? Begin to be thankful for the many blessings you currently have in your life.

Expect something wonderful to happen and that is what you will bring into your life. Get out of the habit of negative thinking. Chip away at it little by little, just like chipping ice from a pond at winter’s end.

“I am the strength, the courage and power to move forward through all experiences and remain joyous.”

By: Gloria Marie

There is so much written about being mindful and staying in the moment. You are probably reading this and thinking, of course I stay in the moment. At work, you concentrate and get the job done. At home, you concentrate and do your chores, make dinner and take care of your family. At leisure, you may play an awesome match of tennis. However, are you mindful or just going through some rote, learned, and familiar experiences? To be mindful and present will give you the secret to climbing mountains.

That mountain may be out of your comfort zone. It may be taking on a new career. It may be trying a new sport. It may be doing what makes your heart sing and that requires that you stay in the present moment. It takes walking by faith not sight.

Walking by faith not sight.

Recently, I fell and broke two bones in my foot. It required surgery and I also needed to stay completely off my foot for at least two weeks possibly longer. I had all sorts of things planned including a trip and suddenly everything came to a halt. Just getting out of bed and getting dressed was an enormous feat. I have a daily spiritual practice and always thought I stayed in the present moment. And maybe I did, but, this new challenge was a whole new level of mindfulness.

If you want to climb a mountain, you need to go one pitch at a time. One rope at a time. When you finish one small climb, then you prepare for the next. You do not know what you will see on the top of the mountain. You cannot see beyond the peak as you climb. You go step by step. With my broken foot, I was forced to go day by day. I did not know how I could function over the next several weeks. I took it one day at a time, just like climbing a mountain, one pitch at a time. I walked, or in my case, rode my scooter, by faith not sight.

How do you prepare for life challenges and they will come? The only way to survive is in the present moment. You can begin today to develop a practice that will only deepen with life challenges. These can be the rope you use to climb that mountain.

1. Pray daily. Ask for God’s Infinite Love, peace and harmony to surround you. 2. Repeat daily. Be Still and Know That I am God. 3. Practice deep abdominal breaths. 4. Clear your energy. Ask Michael the Archangel to protect you, use sage, open your windows, take salt baths. 5. Do something every day that brings you joy. Make a list and commit to incorporating one item into your life every day.

By: Gloria Marie

We all have difficult people in our lives and it can be challenging to deal interact with them, especially if you already have a stress filled day. But, you have a choice on how to respond. Sometimes, you need to just pause and center yourself before you deal with the situation. Next time, try “PEACE” before you react. The “PEACE” method will help you deal with difficult people in a calm, mindful manner.

P – P is for pause. Just stop and become aware of your surroundings. Take note of how you are standing or sitting. This will help you get in the present moment. Ground yourself by standing up.

E – E is for exhale. Take a deep breath in, count to three and then exhale. It might help to stand up and put your hand on your stomach to insure you are taking deep breaths.

A – A is for acknowledge. Do not try to suppress or ignore your feelings. Take a few minutes to become aware of what you are feeling. Are you angry, frightened, jealous, or heartbroken? Scan your body and get a sense of where your body is holding onto those feelings.

C – C is for choice. When you are ready, you have a choice how you respond or react. You are in control of your mind and thoughts. Our thoughts become things. Choose your thoughts wisely. Try positive statements that begin with I am. I can handle this. I am enough.

E – E is for engage. After you have paused, exhaled, allowed and chosen your response, you are ready to engage with the difficult situation or difficult person.

Remember next time you want to lose your cool, do PEACE instead. You can control how you react and respond.

By: Gloria Marie

Have you felt the intense energy of the past few weeks? It seems to me that the year has started with a bang. Many things have not gone exactly like I had planned or had hoped they would go. Several of these circumstances are beyond my control. I cannot control the circumstances, but, I can control my thoughts and my reactions to the situations. And you can too. You have the power to control your thoughts and the ability to focus on solutions instead of problems. So, this week, we are going to try “The Happy Thoughts Challenge.”

It can be old habits that have us first react to problems with negativity and fear. These are lower vibrating energies that can stop manifestations and solutions. If we keep our thoughts happy and positive about a challenging situation or problem. We vibrate at a higher energy and connect with our Inner Self. Our Inner Self is connected to Divine Intelligence and that enable us to find solutions.

Fear and worry will spiral into more fear and worry. Shut the door on them and focus on God where the problem is. Say NO to fear, stop it in its track. When fear sets in, repeat simple affirmations like the following:

God is love. I am surrounded by Divine Love. God is guiding me now. There is no power but God.

Another tool is to imagine the problem already solved. Of course, be flexible as to how it would be solved. Picture yourself and visualize how you would feel, how you would look, and how your life would be with the problem solved. Think positive, happy thoughts and that is what you will attract.

The Happy Thoughts Challenge

This week, pick one problem, one challenge or one circumstance in your life that you would like to change. Then pick one day this week to change your thoughts about the situation. Instead of fear or worry, substitute one of the affirmations listed above. Also, spend at least 10 minutes visualizing the problem solved! At the end of the day, journal about how you felt doing this challenge. If you felt a difference, try it a second day.

By: Gloria Marie

What do you believe? Do you believe that life is difficult? That happiness is not within your reach? That poverty and suffering are normal? If those are your beliefs, then that is exactly what your life will be like. We are meant to have lives filled with peace, love and abundance. That is what God wants for us. If we are not living our lives in this way, we have gotten off track.

Living in the light is living with God. Light gives us strength and confidence to follow our dreams. Darkness only increases our weakness. We have two spheres of our mind: the bodily mind and the spirit mind. The bodily mind or ego is that constant chatter in our head. “You are not enough: not good enough, not bright enough, not pretty enough.” All that is chatter and that chatter puts us off track from being in the light.

When we live in the light miracles occur. That is when we are aligned with our spirit mind and God. Our spirit mind wants us to look past appearances and keep our steady gaze on our dreams. We are not our body. Faith keeps us focused on the life we want and deserve.

Of course, when we live in the light, we will not be problem free. That is simply not the case, but, the spaces and recovery time between the problems will grow less because of our faith.

How do we stay in the light? By prayer and spending time in quiet leaving our weakness behind. A Course in Miracles says, “Faith goes to what you want, and you instruct your mind accordingly.” Believe in yourself, believe in the light, believe in happiness and that is what you will bring into your life.

By: Gloria Marie

What does success mean to you? Success is different for everyone. To one person, it might be lots of money. To another, a powerful position. To another a wonderful, loving relationship. Using the magic of believing with creative thinking, you can achieve success.

Lot of people work hard, but, are not successful. Hard work alone is not enough to achieve you dreams. You must believe in them and have a very clear picture of what it is you want. A vague picture of success will not bring it to you. You must have a burning desire to achieve your objective of success.

Aimlessly drifting through life, like a log going down a river, will not bring you your desires. You must first determine in very clear terms what it is you desire. You must visualize it and clearly picture yourself as successful.

The visualization charges your sub-conscious mind. Our sub-conscious mind is a powerhouse of energy and has the resources to give you the strength, courage and faith to reach your dreams. That is the magic of believing. You must see yourself as successful and believe it for the sub-conscious mind to do its job.

1. The first step is to get a very clear picture what you want. 2. Next, write it down and refer to it often. Get the burning desire!! 3. Wait patiently for your sub-conscious mind to do its job.

Some questions to help you develop that clear desire.

What is your goal? What will your life be like after you have achieved everything you want? How does it feel? Who is there with you? What are your ideal surroundings like? What can you smell? What do you look like? What are you wearing?

Start today to put those goals for success in concrete terms. Feel it, believe it. That is the magic of believing and it works!

By: Gloria Marie

What was the first thing you did when you woke up this morning? Maybe said a prayer for having another day on this magnificent earth? Did you feel joyful and excited about your day? Finding joy and living a joy-filled life allows you to shine. Joy is a true internal feeling that is not affected by life’s up and downs. It differs from happiness which is more external. You won the lottery, you feel happiness. This is not to say that you will always be joyful, but, by cultivating joy, you will be joyful more frequently. Here are my six ways to remain joyful.

I practice these steps, not every day, but, most days. If I am going through a more challenging period in my life, I make it a habit to integrate these actions in my life. Let your soul shine through with joy, it will help everyone around you feel better.

6 Ways to Stay Joyful 1. Be grateful. A practice that includes gratitude allows you to dwell on the positive aspects in your life. No matter how difficult a period you are going through, there is always something to be grateful for. Do you say a silent prayer before a meal? Or maybe start a Gratitude journal. 2. Do something creative. Learn something new. When you are doing a creative project, you unblock energy and that energy can now flow in better ways. When you are doing the creative project; pay attention to the process. Immerse yourself in it. 3. Find your passion. Pursue something that you care deeply about. Even taking small steps toward your passion will bring you joy. What does your ideal day look like? 4. Be of service to others. Take the focus off your ego-centered self and bring happiness to another person. Think of the countless ways you can be of service. 5. Exercise. The Mayo Clinic says, “Exercise in almost any form can act as a stress reliever. Being active can boost your feel good endorphins and distract you from daily worries”. You do not have to train for a marathon. Just do some exercise that you enjoy. 6. Listen to your intuition. In silence, you deep gut feelings are very reliable. Learn to be aware of them.

By: Gloria Marie

The Single Happy and Strong Blog will be exploring different types of meditation. Meditation is simply put, controlling your thoughts and mind. It is not making your mind and thoughts blank. If that happens-great! When you meditate, you should have not any expectations of the results. Try these 3 steps for a breathing mediation.

In the February, 2014 issue of Psychological Science they reported a study on meditation that was conducted by INSEAD and The Wharton School. They found that a 15 minute meditation practice of focused breathing helped the participants make smarter choices.

Zoe Kinias stated in the article: We found that a brief period of mindfulness meditation can encourage people to make more rational decisions by considering the information available in the present moment. Mediation reduced how much people focused on the past and future, and this psychological shift led to less negative emotions. The reduced negative emotion then facilitated their ability to let go of “sunk costs”.

Here are the steps to try a Breathing Meditation:

1. Find a place to site where you will not be disturbed. You may sit in a chair or on the floor, whichever is most comfortable for you. Turn off the television, mute your phone, and turn off your computer. 2. Set a timer for 15 minutes. 3. Take a few deep breaths. Close your eyes and begin to concentrate on your breath going in and out of your nostrils. Have your body settle in to a natural state of respiration. 4. With each inhalation concentrate on the physical sensations in your body. With each exhalation release any thoughts or mental images. 5. When thoughts appear, just let them go. 6. If it helps, you may count your breaths. There is no right or wrong. 7. Periodically confirm that your body is relaxed. 8. Continue breathing until the timer goes off. 9. When the timer goes off, slowly open your eyes and spend a minute quietly sitting.

By: Gloria Marie

Lately I have heard from so many people that feel frustrated in some part of their lives. It may be frustration from trying to launch a new company, frustration in trying to sell a home, or frustration in a dead end job. Have you ever felt that no matter what you do or no matter what steps you are taking; it seems like you are getting nowhere? Maybe it is time to release and surrender to a power much greater than yourself.

Surrendering does not mean you are giving up. It means you are going to stop holding onto the problems with your hands in tight fists and probably your stomach in knots. Do you find yourself thinking, “I am so mixed up and do not know what to do?” Think of what mixed signals you are giving your subconscious mind. You want to move forward, but, are verbalizing the opposite. A good analogy is getting in a taxi. You give the drive one address; you do not keep changing it. Eventually you arrive at your destination.

It is the same with our subconscious minds. Our subconscious mind is aligned with God. Give it positive thoughts for what you want to manifest and then let go. Easy does it, have faith that your prayers will be answered.

Several years ago, I had to sell my home of 25 years. I could no longer afford it and it was a very emotional time with many, many changes and difficult situations throughout my life. The house was on the market forever. I must have shown it over 100 times. It was so frustrating dealing with my financial situation and having to put a happy face on when showing the property. In addition, I was cleaning out 25 years’ worth of memories. Not an easy time at all.

I was like the passenger in the taxi giving too many directions. On the one hand, I desperately needed to sell the house. But, on the other, I kept thinking: Would my son and I be homeless? Where were we going to live? What am I going to do with all the furniture and other stuff?

I held the situation, “tightly in my hands” and it did no good and did not produce a buyer for the house. I remember one day, praying and meditating and a shift occurred. I felt it in my heart, the faith to release my worries and give them to God. After that day, whenever my worries would arise, I would say a prayer or think of God. I trusted that God could move mountains. I did sell the house and the sale went smoothly.

Sometimes we need to let go, let God and spend time quietly listening. Keep the ego mind in check and get in tune with your subconscious mind. Stop the struggle and open your heart to God’s love. Again, you are not giving up and of course, still take action steps toward your goals. But, also listen and believe in a power much greater than yourself.

Easy does it!

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Gloria Marie

Gloria is a transformation life coach, spiritual teacher, and author. She received her Master in Education from the University of Florida and her life coaching certification from the Universal Coach Institute. Her articles have appeared in Huffington Post and divorcedmoms.com. Gloria brings over 35 years of entrepreneurial experience to her work. She is the proud mother of two grown sons.